On February 19th, students got the opportunity to learn more about community service opportunities that are available to them at a completely student-run fair. This took place in the Upper School atrium and there were 16 organizations represented. 

Students who helped run the tables at the fair were also excited about growing their organizations. Spencer Davimos ‘22, co-president of Songs for Smiles, a community service club that meets weekly to teach students songs on the ukulele to then perform at  retirement homes, stated, “I was really excited to hear about the fair because as a new organization, we wanted to gain more members to get more turnout at our events. We were really happy to see everyone come to our stand and we were actually able to double our number of members.”

Many community service projects shared Spencer’s enthusiasm about garnering new members. Sara Gotkin ‘22, who helped to launch the Mental Health Awareness Club, was also grateful that she got to spread her organization’s message. 

“Mental health isn’t something that students typically spend a lot of time focusing on because we’re so busy, so everyone running our table was really happy that we got so many new people to join,” Sara Gotkin ‘22, said. “We want to make more people aware of our club’s goal and really help them.”

The community service fair was a great way for organizations to increase turnout at meetings and get more students interested. It also benefited students who signed up because not only can they contribute to many great causes, but they can also fulfill their community service hours requirement. The fair ended up being a huge success in its first year and will definitely become an annual event.